Committee: General Assembly

Topic: Infectious Diseases

Country: The Federative Republic of Brazil

The United Nations (U.N.) has partnered with developing countries to eliminate the “Big Three” infectious
diseases: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and as a result of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
established in 2000, the incidences of infectious cases have decreased sharply. According to statistics
provided on the U.N.’s MDG website, HIV infections declined 33% between 2001 and 2012 and the
number of tuberculosis and malaria cases fell sharply. However, according to the World Health
Organization, 99 percent of the deaths from these diseases that still occur are in poor and developing
countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the infectious disease death rate is at 80 percent.

With regard to HIV/AIDS, despite increased access to invaluable antiretroviral medications on a global
basis, Brazil remains concerned that for every one person who receives antiretroviral medications, two
people contract the disease. This concern was presented by Secretary Fábio Moreira Carbonell Farias
during an informal consultation during the High Level meeting on HIV/AIDS on April 19, 2011. In
developing countries, there is limited access to antiretroviral treatment and low-cost medicines are
needed to provide treatment for people in poorer areas. Trade barriers and expensive costs unfortunately
prevent a lot of vaccines from going to inflicted people and financial commitments from member
countries to support these efforts have lagged.

Regarding malaria, Brazil is a supporter of The New Partnership for Africa's Development’s (NEPADs)
Decade to Roll Back Malaria initiative, which has the goal of eliminating malaria by 2015, but we remain
concerned by the lack of donors meeting their development assistance commitments to double aid for
Africa, as promised in the Gleneagles Summit of 2005, that expired in 2010.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria saved almost 9 million lives between 2004 and
2012 and provided over 360 million insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) to protect families from
mosquitoes. Another Global Fund achievement included testing and treatment for 11.2 million cases of
tuberculosis, and antiretroviral therapy for 6.1 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS. However, in 2013,
there were still 655,000 deaths caused by malaria in over 97 countries. On October 11, 2011, during the
32nd Plenary Meeting celebrating the 10th anniversary of NEPAD’s Decade to Roll Back Malaria in
Developing Countries initiative, H.E. Regina Maria Cordeiro Dunlop, the Deputy Permanent
Representative of Brazil to the United Nations stated, “The international community has made significant
progress in the last decade in the pursuit of the goals to achieve universal coverage of malaria prevention
and treatment by 2010 and reduce global malaria deaths to near zero preventable deaths by 2015. At this
stage, it is clear that it may be difficult to achieve the agreed goals, unless donors fully meet their
development assistance commitments.”

As one of the many countries greatly affected by malaria, Brazil is committed to partnering with African
countries to rid the world of malaria. Domestically, Brazil instituted the National Program of Malaria
Control with the aim of reducing the number of malaria cases by 50 percent, particularly in the Amazon
region where most cases occur. As a result, through our universal healthcare program, Brazil lowered the
number of infectious cases down to 300,000 in 2011 from a high of five million yearly cases in the 1940s
and 50s. Brazil has developed joint programs with some African countries to prevent and control malaria,
and also created training initiatives to prevent and control the disease.

Multilaterally, Brazil also participates in the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, UNITAID, and the Global Fund.
In Brazil, 33,000 new HIV/AIDS cases are registered each year with an estimated total of 600,000 infected
persons in the country, however through our universal healthcare initiatives, HIV-related illnesses have
not increased and have remained stable for the last five years. We operate the largest program of free-
of-charge, highly active, antiretroviral therapy in the world and work tirelessly to make universal health
care access available to all of our citizens. We believe strengthening healthcare systems throughout the
world will produce tremendous benefits in the fight to prevent infectious diseases, which is achievable
with member nation support.

In conclusion, we believe it is our duty to prevent infectious diseases from spreading and we need to
strengthen our efforts in fighting the diseases. We recognize the helpfulness of ITNs and spraying to
combat malaria, but we believe national governments should also strongly support universal access to
affordable medicines. Therefore, we call on member nations to support strengthening national health
systems to provide resources to the world’s most vulnerable populations that include people affected by
poverty, women, and children. Finally, we must meet our collective commitments, and as called upon by
Secretary Farias, continue to fund the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria to ensure
successful outcomes.